


Flowers For Beyond

by jediluke



Category: Star Wars
Genre: Finn star wars, Finnpoe - Freeform, Florist AU, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Modern AU, Poe Dameron - Freeform, Shara Bey (mention) - Freeform, but also kinda sad, florist!finn, flower shop au, parental death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 08:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16322765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jediluke/pseuds/jediluke
Summary: Finn owns a flower shop and everything is business is usual until a customer comes in with a very particular order. He can't help but wonder who it might be for.





	Flowers For Beyond

Finn reached behind his back, two little tan strings from his apron twisting between his fingers as he drew the ties together until they hugged the curve of his back gently. He grabbed the set of silver and brass keys off of the hook and walked across the shiny floors to the front door. 

The man wouldn’t exactly call owning a flower shop his dream job, be he didn’t mind it. All of his customers were incredibly kind to him and it wasn't exactly a negative environment. In fact, it was hard for him to ever be in a bad mood while surrounded by plants in a sunny little shop all day. With the door propped open and music playing gently through the shop, all he had to do was wait. Wait for the next wedding, birthday, first date, school dance. Everyone who came in had a different story, another reason to be there and Finn loved to hear every one. He rearranged the small grouping of potted succulents on display in front of the counter.

“Excuse me?” A voice from behind Finn spoke up, making him jump a bit. He turned around to face the customer with a smile,

“Hi! How can I help you?” His eyes flickered down to the man’s neck, a thin golden chain wrapped around it and disappeared into his black shirt. Finn wondered what was at the end. 

“I uh-” The man let his head wander for a moment, taking in a brief overview of the shop,  
“I need a very specific arrangement of flowers?” It came out as more of a question than a statement. 

“What were you envisioning? Finn couldn't help but notice the stray curl cascading down the man’s forehead, escaped from his otherwise well-kept head of curls. 

“Hydrangeas, Zinnias, Gardenias, Fressia, and… whatever green leafy stuff you think suits it?” He sounded so sure about his order, listing off each flower by using his fingers as a checklist. 

It made Finn smile, 

“You sound like you know your flowers.” He picked up a green Post-It note and scribbled down the names of the what he wanted,  
“When would you like to pick this order up?”

“Oh- If you’re not too busy can you do it now? I have time to wait if-”

“Sure thing! Special occasion?” Finn asked, turning around to the open containers of flowers that surrounded the back side of the counter area. The man took a moment before answering somewhat solemnly, 

“I don’t think you need a special occasion to buy flowers for someone, you know? I just think it’s a nice thing to do randomly to show that you appreciate them.” 

Finn nodded his head, deep in thought. He wondered who they were for. Whoever they were, Finn couldn't help but feel that the person was extremely lucky. His busiest days of the year were Valentines day and Mother's day. Of course he also got busy prepping arrangements for the local High School’s prom, but that was a bit of a different case. He didn’t have many customers that came in saying they were getting flowers for someone just because they wanted them to know that they appreciate or love them. The thought of the gesture made Finn happy. He grabbed a few blue hydrangeas out of their container before turning around back to the customer in sudden thought,

“Do you want to look around and pick out a vase?” 

The customer took his backpack carefully off of his back and pulled out a clear, glass vase.  
“Is it alright that I brought this one? If I need to buy something I can but… this one is just sorta special. “ 

“No need to buy a vase if that’s the one you want it in.” He shrugged, listening as the glass was placed gently on the counter. He referred back to the Post-It note and continued to grab all the flowers he needed, their long stems dripping water on the floor and on his shoes. The dripping water no longer bothered Finn, as opposed to in the beginning when he basically kept a cloth wrapped around his shoe so he could wipe up the water right away. He took great pride in his little business, it just came in a different form than obsessive cleaning. 

“What's your name?” Finn asked, attempting to make a bit of small talk as he started arranging the flowers. 

“Poe- Poe Dameron.” 

“Nice to meet you Poe,” he liked the way his name fell on his lips,  
“i'm Finn.” 

Poe gave a gentle smile and let his hands rest on the smooth surface of the countertop. 

“How'd you learn so much about flowers?” 

Poe gave a small, half hearted laugh, 

“That's a long story- oh wow.” 

Poe stopped talking as he looked at the nearly finished floral arrangement in front of him. In the past, other florists he had gone to had never accomplished what Finn just had, their arrangements usually being thin and only a flower or two of each type. Finn had filled the vase completely and beautifully, the colors of the flowers all managing to compliment each other- never clashing. 

“What do you think?” Finn asked, twisting it towards Poe to show off the white bow that he was overly proud of. 

“Finn… it’s beautiful.” Poe looked up at him and grinned. Finn was almost sure that he saw moisture in his eyes, but he did not feel like he was the right person to ask if something was wrong. 

Poe reached into his back pocket, prepared to pull out his wallet, but Finn reached out and grabbed his shoulder, 

“This one’s on me.” He told him before quickly drawing his hand away. The reach over the counter was a bit painful because of the thickness of it. Poe froze, his arm slowly dropping back to his side,

“What? I couldn't do that- I know flowers are expensive, Finn I can't-”

“Whoever these are for, they’re important to you, I can see that. This one’s on me.” 

“Can I- can I buy you a coffee or something? As a thank you?” 

“Oh! Yeah- I get off at fi-”

“I can’t today, actually. Does… can we arrange another day?”

There were nerves bubbling up in his voice. 

“Whenever is good for you is good for me Poe. You know where to find me.”

\--

Finn had found himself waiting every day for the next two weeks for man that he barely even knew to come back. He felt lucky that he didn’t have co-workers because he realized that they would probably be sick of it. Yet, every time the little windchimes on the door started to sing, he felt his heart rate soar in hopes that it would be Poe. 

Finally, it was. 

The small silver chimes sang shortly after opening on a sunny, Tuesday morning. He had the vase in his hands this time instead of stored in his backpack, all the flowers and the large white bow were gone and the vase was empty. 

“Hey Poe!” Finn nearly fell over from excitement. 

Poe looked around the shop with his eyes before heading straight for Finn with a small smile on his face. He set the vase down gently on the counter 

"Hi Finn." His voice was gentle, Finn found himself trying to remember if it had been that way before. His curls were a bit more disheveled this time, his blue shirt only tucked into his jeans about eighty percent of the way, a small chunk of cotton fabric still sticking out and away from the waistband of his black jeans. Poe didn't seem to notice it, but he spoke again. 

"Do you remember my order from last time?" He sounded a bit skeptical of himself, probably considering that Finn had filled many orders in the two weeks since he had last visited. Finn wished he would have been able to say yes. He remembered the Hydrengas, but everything else seemed to slip his mind. He confessed to Poe,

"I uh- I remember Hydrangeas... oh.. Zinnias too right?" He raised a single eyebrow, hoping that he was right. Poe laughed, 

"Sorry, I'm sure you've filled tons of arrangements since the last time I was here, that was probably a silly question." He relisted his order and Finn listened intently, each flower reigniting the memory of his first order,

"Right! Okay, I almost thought it was something like that. You want that arrangement again?" He asked, a little confused. Not many people wanted the same exact arrangement. 

"Yeah- that's okay, right?" 

Finn turned back to him, as he had been facing the bins of flowers,

"Why wouldn't it be alright?"

There was a beat of silence, touched only by the gentle coffee house type music playing through the shop speakers. 

"Because I offered you coffee and disappeared for two weeks."

Finn resumed his search for the flowers he needed, trying to hide the blush to his face. 

"It's okay Poe, you're a busy guy, no harm done.

"Yeah, but I don't break promises. What about tomorrow? Are you free at all tomorrow?" 

"Tomorrow? I get off at four tomorrow, but I can always close early if-" Poe cut him off

"After four is fine, I have nothing else to do tomorrow anyways."

Finn had set down the flowers on the counter and began cutting their stems down. 

"Coral Cafe? Dunno if you've ever been there."

"On Rift Street?" Poe asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket and looking at his maps app as if to confirm his own question. 

"Yeah, Rift, right next to the guitar shop."

"It's a date then." Poe said warmly, shutting off the power to his screen with a warm smile that showed in his eyes before he shoved his device back into his back pocket. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the counter as he watched Finn, who was grateful that Poe had neglected to notice how large his eyes got when he called it a date. 

Finn knew that it was just a figure of speech, but it didn't stop his heart from jumping at the sound of the word date. 

He slid a white ribbon out from the drawers that were at his waist level and tied it neatly around the body of the vase.

Poe watched intently as his fingers went to work, neatly and eloquently tying up a bow. He was amazed, it wasn't just one of those bunny eared, loopy bows, but one of the multi-layered ones that you could buy at the store to make gift wrapped presents a little more fun. He loved it. 

"All right Poe, you're all set." Finn pushed the vase forward a bit towards Poe's hands. Poe reached behind him and pulled out his wallet from his front, left jean pocket and pulled out his grey credit card.

"Can I tip you on card?" Poe asked, his thick eyebrows scrunching down closer to his eyes. 

"Yeah, but you don't need to do that Poe."

"Don't need to, but want to. You go above and beyond with these arrangements Finn, I wanna thank you with a little extra somehow." He handed the card to Finn, their fingers brushing slightly as it passed from hand to hand. 

Both of them had to try the blush rising to their cheeks. 

"How much for the tip?" Finn asked, sliding the card into the chip reader system. 

Poe looked at him for a moment before nodding his head,

"Five dollars, and I don't want you to say no. These flowers mean a lot to me and you're a really sweet guy. It's the least I can do." 

Finn looked up at him with wide eyes, his finger hovering just above the screen. No one had ever offered him a tip of that size before. 

"Wait- really?" He asked, wanting to make sure he had heard him right. 

"Yeah, five dollars.” 

Finn still couldn't believe it. Five dollars would go further that Poe might be able to imagine. 

"Thank you so much, truly."

But he saw Poe shake his head, 

"You don't have to thank me. Thank you Finn, thank you for these." He picked up the vase and brought the flowers to nose level before taking a deep breath in, 

"So, a little after four tomorrow at Coral?" He smiled, managing to get his wallet back into his pocket with one hand while he carefully balanced the vase in the other. 

"Sounds great." Finn agreed. 

Poe smiled at him before walking out of the shop.

\--

The next day Finn woke up a little earlier that usual. Taking a little extra time in the shower and to pick out his clothes for the day. Normally it didn't really matter to him what he wore but he wanted to look at least halfway decent in front of Poe. He ended up choosing a red shirt, nothing that looked like he was trying too hard but it still looked halfway decent as it buttoned up. He ate a small breakfast before heading out for work just like he did every morning. 

Everything was as it always was, except for in his own mind he was scared that he might end up embarrassing himself or blowing this. 

He had to remind himself not to be so worked up about it, the word "date" was just a figure of speech. It was not an actual date. 

Still, Poe was cute and there was no way that Finn couldn't acknowledge that. 

He got in his blue car and drove down to the shop, prepared to start the day. 

Afterall, he had orders to fill and customers faces to bring smiles to. Just like every other day, Finn's number one goal was to make his customers happy. 

Once at the shop, he started the quick cleanup, which he had neglected to do the night before, and swept the floors to pick up fallen petals and any spilled dirt that might remain. He, once again, tied the apron around his waist before taking the silver keys off of the hook and walking to the door to open it. 

An old woman was already standing at the door when he opened it up. 

"Hi, what can I help you with?" He asked, giving her a smile, but she paid him no mind as she started to browse the plants. Finn didn't let the warm smile drop from his face as he returned to the back of the counter. He watched the woman with interest and to make sure she was getting around alright. He noticed the slight limp she had as she took each step.  
She stopped in front of some potted house plants, looking them over before picking up a small one in a brown, ceramic vase. 

"This'll do." She told him, setting it on the counter with shaky hands before pulling money out of her small, black and white handbag. 

"I'm glad you found what you're looking for ma'am, he looked at her as he took the money and deposited it in the register, grateful that she had given exact change. She didn't respond to him and FInn's first instinct was to ask if she wanted help carrying it to her car. When she said no, he insisted and picked it up and waited so she could lead him to wherever she was parked. Much to his relief, she thanked him as soon as he had secured it safely on the floor of the passenger side of the car. He was also grateful that the customers that came after her had been a little kinder than she had been, otherwise it just would've been exhausting. 

Finn decided against cleaning up as he flipped the card on the window to read “closed”. There wasn't much of a need for it and he was afraid he’d lose track of time and end up being late to meeting up with Poe. 

He locked up the register before sliding the keys into his pocket. After checking to ensure he had all of his things, he headed out the door and turned around to lock up for the evening. 

Finn walked to the back parking lot and unlocked his car before sliding into the seat on the drivers side. He kicked on the ignition and put his seat belt on before trying to find a radio station to keep on. He ended up picking the same station that he always plays in the shop, it was what he was most used to anyway. 

He opened the window only slightly to let some of the warm, summer sun in. He didn't always leave work with the sun still up, but the occasions that he did were his favorite. He loved the feeling of the warm sun on his face. 

Coral Cafe was only a few stoplights down from his shop and he knew he could've walked easily, but he didn't feel like having to walk all the way back to work after he and Poe were finished. He parked in the lot that wasn't quite full and wondered if Poe had gone inside yet or if he was waiting in his car. However, Finn didn't even know what Poe's car looked like, or if he even had one for that matter.  
He shut off the ignition and locked his car as he stepped out, looking around the lot with his eyes for a moment before heading inside. 

Coral Cafe was a very simple little establishment, decorated with a beach theme that had more reason for admiration in the cold of winter than in summer. It was almost ironic- a beach themed cafe that sold coffee. Finn stood just within the entrance of the doorway for a moment, his eyes scanning the room. His eyes stopped when he saw Poe sitting at a small corner table, his hands and eyes occupied with the phone he held in front of him. He walked over to him and stopped before sliding out the chair at the opposite end from where Poe sat. Poe looked up suddenly, almost startled. 

"Finn! Hey, glad you could make it." He shut his phone off and placed it on the table near a bottle of creamer and little yellow sugar packets. 

"Of course, hope you weren't waiting too long." He apologized as he sat down, but Poe shook his head,

"No, not at all. I just got here a minute or so before you did actually. What do you want to drink? I'll go order for you." 

"It's almost too warm for coffee, don't you think? Something cold would be nice, you can surprise me."

Poe's eyes lit up, making Finn wonder how he always managed to smile with his eyes. 

"I think I know exactly what you'll love, be right back." He place his palms off the table and pushed off of it as he stood up and walked away. Finn stayed in his chair, letting his hands fold in his lap, unsure of what else to do with them. 

Poe came back a few minutes later with two plastic cups in his hands, the drinks not quite looking like straight-up iced coffee. 

"Mocha and white bean milkshake. They're ridiculously delicious, there's caffeine in it but it works well on a hot day." He slid him a straw before sitting back down in his seat. 

"Oh wow.. thank you so much Poe." Finn smiled, sliding the paper wrapper off of the coral colored straw. 

"So how's the florist life treating you?" Poe asked before tucking the straw between his lips. 

"Honestly, I love it. It's not a real stressful job, y'know? Customers are pretty nice too so that's always a plus. What about you? I don't think you've ever told me what you did. 

"I work at a book publishing company actually, it's not a bad job either. Strenuous sometimes but.. I get to read people writing and help consider if it's goodbye enough to be published or not." He gave a small shrug.

"Seriously? That's really cool Poe, I never would've guessed that job." He took a drink from his milkshake, the flavor hitting his tongue and he couldn't believe how good the taste was. 

"I've only ever seen you as a florist but I think it suits you," Poe kept his hands wrapped around his drink. 

Finn smiled and let the straw fall from his mouth. 

"Can I ask you something?" He questioned.

"Anything, is this a mini twenty one questions type thing? I'll warn you right now that I'm terrible at talking about myself. Finn chuckled,

"No no, nothing like that. I just wanted to ask because I don't usually find it polite to ask who people are buying flowers, but your flower order was so intriguing and I just couldn't help but wonder."

Poe let his hands leave from around his drink and he dropped them down under the table. 

"It's okay, I don't mind that you're curious." He paused for a moment before speaking again,  
"They're for my mom, they're her favorite flowers and she can't go get them herself so I go and get them for her and drop them off to her every other week." 

Finn would've sworn that he felt everything inside him warm up,

"Poe that's so sweet of you." 

Poe shrugged, 

"She loves them, by the way. Won't stop talking about how you make incredible arrangements." 

The compliments brought a blush to Finn's cheeks.

"Of course," Poe continued, "I agree with her." 

Finn didn't know how to respond, afraid that he'd blubber something embarrassing if he opened his mouth. It took him a minute, but he finally got the knot out of his tongue. 

"Thank you, thank your mom for me too Poe. I'd love to meet her one day if she's ever able to come down. 

Poe looked out the large window that was next to him, the glow from the sun making his features gleam with golden light. 

"I can take you to her. I think she'd love to meet you too." He didn't look back at Finn right away. 

"I'd love that." He grinned, taking another sip from his drink. 

"Would it be too much to take you after we finish here? Or are you busy?" Poe wondered, fidgeting with his fingers under the table to hide his nervousness.

“I’m free all night.” Finn shrugged, licking his lips. Poe shifted in his seat before changing the subject,

“So what do you do? Besides flowers that is, what do you do for fun?” He asked, a small smile on his lips. 

“Oh! Well, I really enjoy bike rides, but when the weather isn't nice… reading, knitting too actually.”

“Knitting? I've always loved knitted things.” 

“I'll have to make you something one time.” Finn hummed.

“I'd love that.” Poe said warmly, his hands finally ceasing from shaking.

“What about you, Poe? What do you like to do.”

“I play guitar mostly, sing sometimes but… it's hard to get into open mic nights now, seems like it's the latest craze or something.” He chuckled, bringing the straw to his lips.

“You could sing to me while I knit.” Finn suggested.

“That sounds perfect, actually.” 

Poe felt something surge through him at the thought of doing something so domestic with Finn.

The thought made him feel warm. 

“Do you have a car?” Poe asked, and Finn nodded his head, 

“I sure do, you want me to drive?” 

“Can you? I took the bus here.” 

Finn grabbed his drink as he stood up, twisting a bit to stretch out his back. 

Finn grabbed his car keys from out of his pocket and waited a moment for Poe to stand up and grab his phone. Together they walked out, Finn leading the way to his car. Poe got in the passenger side and Finn wondered for a second if he should have opened the door for him. Nevertheless, he got in the driver side and buckled up. He checked to make sure Poe was buckled in before staring the car and cautiously pulling out. 

"The coffee shakes were a really good idea by the way. thank you so much." Finn said, pulling up to the exit just before the road, his hand hesitating over the directional control. 

"Uhh left. And- no problem. They're what I usually get here, figured you might like it too."

Poe continued to give Finn directions, sounding a little more nervous the closer they seemed to get to their destination. The sun was begging to set and Finn had to put the visor down to block out the rays. 

"Just a little further.... it should be coming up right..." Poe paused, staring out his window until they hit an intersection,

"turn right, it's right here." 

Finn turned right and immediately grew confused. 

Poe had lead him to a cemetery. 

That's when it hit him. 

Finn felt his heart sink. Poe's mother wasn't alive anymore, he realized very suddenly. The flowers were for her, yes, and it all started to make a lot more sense. He slowed the car down before parking. 

Poe was glancing at him nervously. 

"I'm excited to meet her, she has an excellent taste in flowers." Finn said before getting out of the car, a little bit of happiness brimming in his tone of voice. Poe hesitated before he too stepped out of the car. He lead Finn through winding rows before stopping in front of one of the many grey stones. The arrangement Finn had put together sat in front of it, bow blowing gently in the breeze. 

Shara Bey.

Finn gave a gentle smile,

"Hi Shara, your son told me how much you love the flower arrangements I put together for you." He looked over at Poe, who looked, to Fin's surprise, a little shocked. Finn continued to speak,

"You have a very sweet son you know, I think you would be proud of him." Finn sat down and grabbed his hand to tug Poe down with him. Finn spoke once more, this time to Poe,

"You could've just told me." His voice was quiet.

"I didn't know how you'd take it." 

Finn gave a small shrug, 

"I'm just saying, I would've brought some more flowers for her if I would've known." 

Poe remained silent, just looking at Finn before his eyes refocused to what was behind him. Fireflies began to fly around them, blinking like stars against the darkening of the dusk landscape. Poe's expression transitioned to a smile. Finn, confused by his silence looked at him, only to turn over his other shoulder to see what he was looking at. Finn smiled when he saw them too. 

"I love fireflies." Poe whispered, smiling wider as his eyes scanned the area around them. 

"Like little stars, I used to love catching them when I was little, but I would always let them go because... I don't know. It just felt wrong to keep them in a jar. They were free when they could fly." 

"So you've always had a heart of gold huh?" Poe moved closer to Finn and bumped their shoulders together. Finn blushed,

"Just how I am I suppose." 

"Well, never let anyone change that. I love that about you." He moved his hand and accidentally brushed his fingers against Finn's, bringing a blush to his cheeks before moving his hand away slightly. 

Next time, Finn knew he would bring more flowers.


End file.
